The First Doctor: The Untold Story
by D The Wanderer
Summary: Do you know of the man who banished the Miniscopes in the universe breaking the Time Lords' non-intervention policy? Who was born in wealth and privilege but cast it aside to see the stars? No? He didn't go by "Doctor" yet. A tale of the First Doctor's life, from his birth to the arrival at 76 Totter Lane, and how he got the name "Doctor".(STORY HAS UNDERGONE PARTIAL REWRITE)Enjoy!
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was an undescribable sensation, being born.

The pain, the fight to get out of the safest place in the Universe, and into the world.

Pain erupted across his tigh. Someone had slapped him. He started to cry.

Pain erupted in his being again, only this time they had cut off a strange appendage connected to his belly.

He opened his eyes. A brownish-red-maybe-ginger-haired woman with a cutting-glass voice and a warrior-like look, weary and tired but smiling in uttermost happiness was taking him into her arms, and pressing him ino her chest as tears began to fall off from her eyes.

Fleeting memories of anOther, dark haired, short-legged and mysterious, committing suicide, started burying themselves in the deepest recesses of his mind. What the heck was going on?

He felt his mother hand him to another stranger, shaven and long-faced, and very young too.

He felt a touch in his mind and immediately knew that that stranger was his father. His father pressed him to his chest like his mother had, starting to cry in happiness like she had done, but when he felt his heartbeat...it was a double heartbeat, much like his own.

But why he had felt only _one_ heartbeat when his mother had pressed him to her chest?

He looked around in the room as his father was holding him up, and saw another stranger, dark haired, thin faced and tall, but this one was much more younger than his father, and looking at him he felt another touch in his mind. Was he his...Brother?

And then there was yet another stranger, with a hat and a question mark pullover and umbrella, really short and with an odd accent. He couldn't get very well what he was tellingg his parents, but it seemed he was telling them to name him after him, the stranger.

And then this stranger's eyes and his own eyes interlocked...and it was like looking into a mirror, into an endless story with _more_ than the usual thirteen faces...and a name that meant "Healer" for many people but "Warrior" for many more...it was like looking into your own future...but then the stranger's eyes seemed to become galaxies, and they both began to spin and spin and spin and spin...

...He didn't know how long had passed before he regained consciousness, but what he remembered was a pair of gentle hands putting him into a machine, and the machine starting to pull at every fibre of his being, every piece of his DNA, every moment of his biodata...and he saw the weird guy, the _Other_ guy, throwing himself into the machines as a final act of defiance against a once friend and now foe...and being reborn as him like _genetically_ as much as he had done _spiritually_ at the time of his womb-birth...and then there were forty-four faces laughing and sneering and prodding at him, save for his Brother, and he knew that he had just been Loomed. Born again, but already born before.

He recognized immediately-though he didn't know how-that it was the House of Lungbarrow(1) the one laughing at him, save for his Brother.

But the first thing he thought was instead a name that the stranger had whispered to him with an unreadable smile.

 _Doctor_.

What the hell did _Doctor_ mean?!

DW DW DW DW DW

Ten points to Gryffindor-if you get who the guy with the hat and question mark umbrella and pullover was.

Well, this is only the Prologue of this story, so I get It's a bit early to ask you this, folks, but please Read&Review, make me know what you think so far and if There are any specific characters you'd like to see in this story, which, mind you, It's going to span from the Doctor's childhood to his escape from Gallifrey with Susan and the adventures they had together, up to their discovery by Ian and Barbara at 76 Totter Lane on 23 November 1963, in the first ever episode of Doctor Who.

And that's all, I'll just leave you with the Whodictionary.

DW DW DW DW DW DW

(1) The House of Lungbarrow is the Doctor's House. The Great Houses are sentient houses which are grown much like TARDISes, which Loom a quota of 45 Cousins, all with 12 regenerations each (which are awakened by exposure to the Untempered Schism or the Time Vortex). Every time a Cousin dies, a new one is Loomed. The House are ruled by the Kitriarch, a sort of father or grandfather (though the "Grandfathers" are the founderas of the Houses), and the Housekeeper, a sort of mother/aunt/grandmother, who not only is bonded to the House (like the Kitriarch), but is wedded to it too. This invention was thanks to the Other, whohad already children of his own, was due to the Pythia's curse on Gallifrey, which made Time Lords unable to have children wth other Time Lords, but every familiar term except Cousin was considered from then on a terrible offense.


	2. That's what brothers are for

Chapter One: That's what brothers are for (PARTIALLY REWRITTEN)

Roughly seven years after the Doctor's birth

-Did you hear?- Glospin sneered at Innocet. -Word's reached the Capitol that Wormhole's parents are dead.-

-Dead?-

-Dead, and their bodies gone. Probably cremated. And Wormhole was the first to know, even before us.-

-Oh, boy...so that's why the other children were harassing him more than usual, yesterday. And why he had gone to cry in that barn. I thought he was just scared of entering the Army.-

-Well, I've said that before and I'll say it again, it's the only thing he can do. Even if he enters the Academy, he'll never manage to become a Time Lord. I fon't get why Quences dotes so much on such a good-for-nothing deadbeat. I bet it's because Wormhole's father was his favorite, and wanted to hand the position of Kitriarch down to him. I remain of the opinion he should seek a much worthier successor, than that idiot's offspring.-

-Such as you?- Innocet raised a provocative eyebrow, and Glospin smiled widely and spread his arms even wider.-Why not? I'm 808, still in my first incarnation. I'm a skilled Eugenicist, top of my field. If someone deserves that inheritance, it's me. Not a lousy crybaby who's still scared of the monsters under the bed and makes up weird stories of women telling them fear is a superpower and bla, bla, bla.-

-You're a hundred times older than him, Glospin. Yet you're a hundred times less mature.- Innocet spat venomously and left the room.

-Always siding with the children, with the snot-nosed, complaining children. If you'd just stop playing the nursemaid and grow up.- Glospin grumbled, before heading upstairs.

In "Wormhole"'s room...

A soft knock came at Wormhole's room, but Wormie staid huddled under the covers.

-Brother, it's me, Irving. Open the door, please.- the boy opened his eyes. Irving? Was he alredy back from the Academy? Wait, that meant he too now could see him that way. He squeezed his eyes shut harder under the covers and choke back a sob. -Go away.-

Another, wearier sigh came from behind the doors, and the boy asked, almost snapping:-Who told you I was here? Innocet? Badger? Or that Shobogan Glospin?-

-No one. I knew it myself. I'd have done the same, had it happened when I was your age.- he could almost see Irving shake his head, but when he spoke again, Irving's voice was nearly cracking. -Please, brother. Just let me in.-

The boy reluctantly got up and went to open the door, but when he did so, he found himself beholding a truly shocking sight. His brother, Irving Braxiatel, the portrait of composure and charm, was reduced to a mask of sorrow and heartbreak, his blue eyes filled with despair. -Look at us.- he tried to hide it with self-irony, ruffling his brother's seat-soaked dark blonde hair. -We're both one heck of a mess. Come on now, let's clean ourselves up..-

Thete grabbed his brother's hand, and silently came along as his brother lead him to the bathroom, filling the tub while undressing both himself and Thete. The two climbed into the tub and relaxed themselves into the water, Irving silently washing his little brother, before awkwardly trying to break the silence. -Word has just reached me today-on my Graduation Day-that father-and your mother-were dead. I...I'm sensing you already knew, am I right?-

The boy, his eyes red and puffy from crying. -Yes. And all the Cousins were on me for that.-

-That's why you went to cry in that barn, isn't it? Innocet told me. She told me you made a strange dream, too.-

-It wasn't a dream!- the boy snapped defensively. -There really was a woman there. She touched my leg and told me to go back to sleep, and then stroke my hair and told me not to be ashamed of being afraid, and then she gave me this.- Thete plucked the unarmed toy soldier from his clothes on the floor, showing it at Braxiatel. -He's the Leader. -How can he be the Leader? He has no weapon.- Irving asked dubiously, but Thete answered with the utmost confidence:-He doesn't need a weapon. That's why he's the Leader. And I want to be just like that, when I grow up, so no one will dare to bully me for being a womb-born orphan.-

Irving was stunned at the determination of his brother. Was this really the same little kid who had just been moments from crying seconds before?

-You will be, Thete.- he blinked back a tear, kissing his little brother's forehead, the knot in his heart loosened by a touch of pride for that lonely child.-And I'm sure Father will be so proud of you, no matter which path you choose.-

-I don't want to be the Family's first Lord Cardinal as Quences wants.- Thete protested. -I'll happily leave it to you.-

Irving laughed, and his hearts finally felt free. -Screw Quences. It's your life to choose, not Quences's, always remember that, Thete.-

Thete blinked back the newly-forming tears, then jumped and threw his arms around Irving's neck.

-Thanks, Irving.-he sniffled, burying his face in the crook of his brother's neck. Irving ansewered by encircling his brother's small form with his muscled arms, his smooth hands caressing the boy's soft , dark blonde curls.-That's what brothers are for.- he smiled, kissing the boy's forehead again, the two of them just content to lay there into the warerfilled tub, eventually falling asleep.

TS

Please forgive me if it's too mushy, but I needed to get the bromance right. And please Read&Review too-let me know if there's some specific character you want to see in the next updates. Bye!


	3. More than just best friends

Chapter Two: More than best friends (REWRITTEN)

Seeing how the Doctor and the Master were each other's nemesis, you'd think they had always been like that.

But can anyone really remember the time when they were kids, best friends and eveless child with a soft heart and Koschei his junior and cunning partner in all their little adventures and pranks pulled on their most hated Cousins?

Can anyone really remember the day that they changed?

It was not when Koschei first heard the Drumming in his head.

It was not when they searvhed for Valdemar.

It was not when the Second Doctor left Koschei trapped in the DarkHeart.

It was much, much earlier.

It was on the day of Koschei's fourth birthday, and Thete's seventh.

The Day they became the unwilling Champions of Death and Time respectively.

And this it's how it went.

-What are you looking at so intently?- the older boy questioned Koschei, who was staring at his abdoschei replied innocently, using that affectionate nickname he'd given him long ago. -It's funny.-

Snail caressed Koschei's smooth, soft, and navel-less belly, and the younger child squirmed, before asking gingerly and with a childish innocence he showed to Snail and to Snail only, and Snail told him:-Why not?-Koschei got up on his knees, and moved an awkward hand to caress Snail's bellybutton, then softly saying, as if trying to explain his curiosity:-Something weird must have happened with your looming, because I learned recently that the navel is...well, only womb-born children have it.-

-Yeah, very wrong indeed.- gulped Snail, fearing that Koschei would discover his secret. But the little boy was content to simply play with his bellybutton, engrossed in it like a kid in a candy store, and Snail frankly didn't mind: he liked it when Koschei touched him, and Koschei likeeise liked Snail's touch; sometimes it seemed that Snail's touch was the only one Koschei could stand, even if he still squirmed when Snail touched his naked skin.

But, all in all, Snail remained the sole person capable of bringing a smile to Koschei's lips, and when he did, it was a beautiful smile.

Snail liked that smile. He'd liked it since he'd been present at Koschei's Looming, four years ago, and it had been the occasion, for him, to compare his own birth to that of the Oakdown kid, and, surprisingly to him, Koschei hadn't cried. At all. Snail had felt envious of the loomling, because he'd always been a crybaby, a trait for which he had often been bullied by his older Cousins, but Irving had told him that Newbloods like those of Oakdown (Koschei's House) were apparently cleansed of this "animal" need to cry during their-three-to-five-years-long stay in the Loom.

Koschei had completed this time in record time (three exact years), and he and Snail had quickly become best friends. Little did they know that, on this happy days, it would happen something that would change their friendship forever.

WARNING: DARK, GORISH M RATED SECTION APPROACHING, SKIP IT IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT OR YOU'RE UNDER AGE.

-Well well well,- a sickly sweet voice awoke them, and they looked up to see 953-year-old Torvic, one of Koschei's elder Cousins, and a bully to both Snail and Koschei. -I see you couldn't wait to shame our Family further, Koschei. First making a friend of a Lungbarrow Time Tot, and then engaging in animal activities with him? Your Kitriarch will be so disappointed...-Koschei whimpered in fear and hid his face into Snail's chest, while Snail quickly put his arms around him, but Torvic grabbed him by the troath and wrenched him off Koschei, before slamming him into the sand.

-Listen up, little Oldblood. The last prank you roped Koschei into made me look like a fool in front of everyone who was at that state dinner, costing me a career in the High Council. So I ain't in a mood of forgiveness right now. You and that little runt from my House are gonna pay.-

-For what?- Snail managed to chuckle despite the tight chokehold he was in. -We didn't make you look like a fool, Torvic...You already ARE a fool.-

-You little Shobogan.- Torvic snarled, punching Snail in the face, then punching him again, and again.-You think you're so funny. You think that because you come from the House of Lungbarrow you've got the right to corner an Oakdown kid and corrupt him into assisting your bullyings of the dignities of us Time Lords and then take him skinny dipping as if nothing had happened and it was proper to be such an exhibitionist.-

-Piss off.- Snail spat on Torvic's face, who in retaliation punched him again on his already broken nose and threw him onto the sand once again, kicking him in the ribs twice for good measure.

-Stop!-

The Time Lord turned to look at Koschei, who tried to hypnotize him to leave him and Snail alone-but, despite his innate talent for this art, Koschei was too frightened to successfully hypnotise Torvic, who smirked cruelly and backhanded the boy, who slammed his back-real hard-on a rock.

-Leave him alone- Snail plead through split and bleeding lips, -It was my idea, not his. Miy fault, not his.-

But Torvic would have none of that. -You're wrong, little Otherfucker.- he chucked, slamming his feet onto Koschei's genitalia, causing a bloodcurling scream to erupt from the boy, -It's his fault even more because he should have never befriended an Oldblood like you,- he slammed the boot down once again, -And should never have accepted to cooperate in your damned plan.- and again, -but don't worry, I'll come to you in a minute.- and again.

-P-please stop...- Koschei sobbed in pain but Irving simply picked up a rock that lied nearby, held Koschei down by the throat, and slammed it on the boy's left hand, which was holding what remained of his nether parts in pain-thus shattering it. Kosche7i screamed once again, but Torvic was undeterred. He proceeded to administer the same brutal treatment to Koschei's right hand, and then to his feet.

Koschei was a bleeding, sobbing mess by now, the sand of the riverbank only making his eounds worsen and get infected, but Torvic still wasn't satisfacted. He flipped Koschei on his back and rammed the rock on his spine-and that was it for Snail.

Watching his friend being the object of such a carnage had been making the human part of Snail burn in wild rage, and as Torvic rammed his rock onto Koschei's back, he EXPLODED.

He grabbed a larger rock and with the strenght of madness rammed it into Torvic's skull-forcing the elder to start regenerating, but before he was halfway through it, he slammed itonto Torvic's chest, breaking his sternum and crushing both his hearts at the same time, stopping the regeneration process and killing him definitively as the writhing corpse vomited blood all onto Snail.

Snail, for his part, just stood there for a moment, breathing hard, naked, bruised, covered in blood (both his and Torvic's),and brains (just Torvic's), battered and forever scarred emotionally.

H-He h-had just...he'd just killed a man...he'd just killed a man...to save Koschei.

-Koschei!-

But as he turned to help his best friend, he found his path blocked by a woman. And a terryfying one at

that. She was just how Gallifreyan mitology thought Death to be like.

-Who...who in Selpulchasm are you?- Snail asked in fright, and the woman's smooth yet cold voice confirmed his fear. -I am Death, young Gallifreyan. And I have come to make you my Champion in my fight against Time. The darkness within you, coupled with your ruthless murder of your Torvic, make you the best candidate for this position.-

-I don't care about your squabble with Time, old lady!- Snail raged in rightful defiance. -All I care for is saving my best friend, so get out of the way!-Death stared with disbelief at the bloodied and dirty child whom, naked and bruised, dared to chalenge her so defiantly. -That comes at a price,- she grumbled, not wanting to have a child ridicule her so much. -Torvic's body will disappear, and no one will remember of his existance. Even you and your friend won't remember this encounter. You will even forget having murdered him...- she explained, before gazing maliciously at Koschei's dying form -...I'll just have to choose another Champion.-

-Fine. Whatever. Just go away.- the child waved her off, and Death disappeared with a snap of her fingers and a muttered curse aimed at Snail, who immediately ran to Koschei and picked him up into his arms, gently cradling him as he assessed the gravity or his situation. Koschei's face was a mess of blood and bruises, with a broken jaw and nose, his neck with deep finger marks due to having almost been choked to death, all his limbs broken, bleeding badly and with the broken bones nearly sticking out, his back badly hurt, his genitalia reduced to a bloody pulp, and he was bleeding away internally.

-Snail...- croaked Koschei, coughing blood onto his friend's chest, Snail responding by pressing him harder intpo his chest and rocking him gently, vainly trying to reassure him everything was going to be alright while crying the hardest he had ever cried in his life.

-...Snail...- Koschei croaked and coughed blood again, happy tears forming in his eyes.-...you...you saved me...-Koschei's naked body began glowing a golden light, tears now falling freely from his eyes, as Snail cried even harder.

When he was finished, he saw that Koschei had fully healed and hadn't changed face and body. Clever boy, he had given his excess regeneration energy to Snail, healing the both of them without the need for any of the two to change.

END M RATED SECTION

Snail looked down at the little boy safely asleep in his arms, sucking at Snail's nipple in his sleep like a child seeks comfort in his mother's breast, and kissed his forehead as he washed them both clean in the Cadonflood River, the little boy remaining in the post-regeneration sleep, then deciding it was time to go back to their Houses.

Their clothes having been washed away by the river after Torvic had thrown them into the water, Snail wrapped them both in the only surviving item, a towel, to cover Koschei's modesty as he carried him back to his father's estate, Koschei's arms slinged around his neck and his legs encircling his waist.

-What happened?- asked Koschei's father in obvious surprise, seeing them both half naked.

-The rivertide washed away our clothes save for a towel and Koschei fell asleep along the way back here, so I carried him.- Snail told him what was technically the truth or part of it, also noticing that Kasterboraliallaoprydonioakdownmas didn' reach to take his son into his own arms as Snail's father had instead done with him up until his and his mother's tragic disappearance a month and a half ago.- Mr. Kast,sir...- Snail began uncertainly, clutching Koschei even tighter if possible, -Can...can I stay here for the night, just to make sure Koschei'll be OK and that he hasn't gotten sick with all the time we've been swimming in the river?-

-Of course you're welcome to stay the night. I'm afraid you'll have to sleep in Koschei's room, however, and to sleep in his bed, seeing as there aren't any others. Sorry about that, by the way.-

-Don't worry, it will do just fine, sir.- Snail reassured him and disappeared upstairs, Koschei's father left marvelling about the a strange boy from Lungbarrow, he was. Really sad and dark, probably because of his recent loss of both parents. And yet he had always been the only one in all the Houses to befriend and understand Koschei...Kast wondered if Snail understood Koschei better than him.

Meanwhile, upstairs...Snail pulled the covers away and gently laid Koschei there, but once detatched from the elder boy's body, the little boy began squirming and wriggling, whimpering in fear as the cancelled memory of what Torvic had done to him resurfaced, twisted into a horrible nightmare. He was weeping silently, like Snail had done so many times to cry himself to sleep in that old barn. And so Snail couldn't help but get on the bed himself, pulling Koschei to his chest once again and holding him close, as the smaller boy latched onto him in a rib-crushing clutch and stayed there, soaking him with his tears.

Snail laid a gentle kiss atop of Koschei's head, cradling his soft black hair, and lay there, staring at the shining surface of Pazithi Gallifreya, thinking about the deal he'd made with Death.

TS

As you probably have guessed, I'm for the ThetaxKoschei ship. Especially now that the Master has become a woman in Series 8 and literally snogged the life outta poor Peter Capaldi and called him "boyfriend" more times than I can count.

Now, thias is a rewrite of the original chapter two, and those of you who've read it will probably understand the need for a rewrite in the first place. I myself I'm just gonna say that the original was utter shit, and just leave it at that.

Oh, as for Torvic's death and the Doctor's subsequent deal with Death, they're mentioned in the Big Finish audio story Master, which was a partial inspiration for this chapter.


	4. Of Bargains, Promises and Fights

Chapter Three: Bargains, Promises and Fights (PARTIALLY REWRITTEN)

The next morning...

Snail awoke to find himself cuddling with the still-asleep Koschei. He tried to slowly get off the bed as realization and memory of what had happened the previous day hit him, but Koschei clutched at him and complained:-Don't go...-

Snail gave him a fond kiss on the forehead and smiled determinedly. -I'll never go without you, Kosch.-

-The other child clutched his hand eith equal determination, and Snail got out of the bed, Koschei offering. -You can take my clothes if you need.-

Snail looked down at himself and mumbled an embarassed "oh yes", as he'd forgotten he was naked. Koschei took out clothes for both of them and gave a pair to Snail, who thanked him and ran out.

-So same time tomorrow?- Koschei's cheerful voice called hum, as he ran down the hill. -Same time tomorrow!- he laughed, glad that Koschei was back to his old self. Yeah, the deal he'd made with Death was completely worth it.

He ran and ran, and stopped at the bank of the Cadonflood River, the same exact spot the...the thing with Torvic had happened yesterday.

He couldn't see Torvic's corpse anywhere, and his blood was neither on the sand nor on the rocks he'd used on him.

He nodded and smiled to himself. The deal with Death had been really one worth mak- -Hello, child.- The Eternal was blocking his path once again, smiling maliciously.-You seriously thought you could just get away like that?- Then she added:-I may have wiped everyone's memories of Torvic...but surely you have not forgotten that there's still Torvic's biodata in the Matrix, or have you?-

-Othering Other!- Snail blasphemed. -What more do you want from me, you old Pythia? I've already told you, I have no intention of being your "Champion".-

-Then you'll be mine.- replied what looked like Death's younger twin, and Death thought about it for a moment. -I suppose I can work with that, little sister.-

Time turned to speak to Snail once again. -Then it's a become my Champion and Koschei becomes Death's, and it will be as if this awful story never happened.-

They shook hands and the two Eternals departed, leaving Snail confused and incapable of remembering what had just happened or for what reason he had come back here. Nothing bad had happened here yesterday, right? Then why was he here?

Oh well, it was probably nothing important.

He ran toward Lungbarrow, hoping to get there before Sattalthrope could catch him getting back THIS late...

-WORMHOLE!-

...Fat chance of that.

-Yes, Sattalthrope?- he asked boredly as the pluri-millenarian Housekeeper came and smacked at him over the head with her giant key, shrieking:-The arrogance! Is this any way to talk to an Housekeeper?-

-OW!- Wormhole cried, holding his throbbing head. -What was that for?-

-For not showing the proper respect when talking to the Housekeeper.- Glospin smirked, and the old hag gestured to him with her key, accidentally hitting him in the face with it.-See? You better take example from your elder Cousin! Glospin is one who knows how to behave!-

-Are you sure we're talking about the same Glospin?- Innocet raised an eyebrow at the two elders as she stepped in to get the kid out of the argument.

-Thanks, Innocet.- he mumbled as his Cousin accompanied him up the stairs. -Always happy to nag on Glospin-but where were you? Me and Irving were worried sick.-

-I just stayed at Koschei's place for the night.-

-Oh, is that so?- the slender, spectacled face of Irving Braxiatel stood in the doorframe of his study, looking reeeeaaaaallly pissed off. -Come inside, Thete. We've got to talk. You can go, Innocet, thanks.-

-What? We're all Cousins here, Braxiatel.-

-Well, this is brotherly talk, so thank you but please STAY OUT OF THIS!-

Irving slammed the door in a fuming Innocet's face.

-What's wrong, brother?- the kid asks worriedly. -I've never seen you so angry before. Come to think of it, I've never seen you angry.-

Then again, he hadn't seen him much before.

-Thete, you were Rassilon knows where for a whole day and you still have the nerve to ask me what's wrong?- Irving's voice was dangerously low, so Thete put his hands forwards defensively and tried:-I told you yesterday I was going out with Koschei, and I just spent the night at his place. That's all.-

-And what did you do with Koschei then, hm? And don't think about lying, because I'm your oder brother and the last person you should lie to?-

-Weeeeellll...you know that thing people did before the Pythia's curse when they really really liked each other and wanted to have babies? And about how you told me that it could be technically done by people of the same sex? And how I told you once that me and Koschei really really liked each other?-

Irving was silent for a moment, befote realization hit him and he downright EXPLODED.

-WERE YOU OUT OF YOUR OTHERFUCKING MIND, THETE?! YOU'RE SEVEN, THETE, SEVEN-AND HE'S WHAT, FOUR?!-

-But you said people do it because they really...-

-I know what I said.- Irving hastily cut him off, before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. -But we could talk for hours about how _wrong_ it is for children to have sex. You don't even have a sexual education yet, heck, apart from Badger's lessons you barely even have an education, and Time Lords now consider it a revolting animal impulse rather than a natural thing, they wouldn't react tothe knowledge of what you and Koschei did very well...-

-WHAT?!- Thete burst in disgust. -I meant KISSING, Irving! And it was just a couple of pecks on Kosch's forehead, not THAT other stuff you're ranting about so much that you've made me dread it!-

-...Oh.- Irving came to the realization of his mistake with an almost comical face.

-...Pervert.-Thete deadpanned, and Irving let out a weary sigh. -I'm just worried you could get hurt, Thete. That's why I was angry. Because I'm your brother.-

-You seem the only one to really worry, in the House.- Thete replied with a bitterness unknown of in seven-year-old Time Tots.

-Maybe because I know what it's like to be picked on.- Irving took off his spectacles and put his hands on Thete's shoulders. -But the real reason is that I know that you have a gift no other Tinme Lord in over ten million years has ever had: you care. It may be because you're half human, and you may hide it, you may mask it, but you CARE, Thete. And that's what makes you so special, that's the reason because I get sometimes so angtry at you, that's the reason because I always tries to help you no matter what. Because you care.-

Irving finished his speech with teary eyes, and tried awkwarfly to wipe the tears, but Thete blocked him. Apparently he had decided that big brother needed a really big hug, and he didn't seem willing to go back on his decision, so Irving decided that it suited him just fine.

Thete, on his part, tightened the embrace, and reflected on his brother's words.

He decided that even if it turned out he wasn't truly the better person, then he'd become the one who made people around him better. And if he remembered correctly, there was a name for it, and in Old High Gallifreyan it began with a "D"...

TS

Hiya, folks!

Yeah, I know this chapter ain't really much, but I tried to set things right after the previous.

And, believe me, despite the misunderstanding, Braxiatel is right: children should NEVER engage in that stuff.

I've decided to show a bit of Lungbarrow again, and you'll probably see more of it in the next chapters, and as for the deal with Time and Death, it's canon, Big Finish canon. I just tried to explain the reasons for it in the previous chapter, that was what all the gore was about. And sorry if I hurt your sensibility with it.

As for the curses, the young Thete really shouldn't really curse so much at seven, but crukkling, Otherfucking, Othering Other , Shobogan, Otherfucker and old Pythia are all canon curses.

The Pythia, for those who don't know it, were an old matriarchal line of seers who were overthrown by Rassilon, Omega and the Other. The Cult of Pythia then went to Karn to form the Sisterhood of Karn, while Rassilon, Omega and the Other (whom nobody really knew anything about) became the Three Founders of Time Lord society...and we know how well it went, don't we?

Omega was lost in a black hole and went mad.

Rassilon became a dictator and was imprisoned in the Dark Tower.

And the Other...well, he threw himself in the original Loom as a final act of defiance against Rassilon.

I think it's pretty much safe to say:"Well, that ecalated quickly."


	5. Talking about parents

Chapter Four: Talking about parents

-Badger?- the child looked up from the essay he was writing on the Black Scrolls of Rassilon and fixed his blue-grey eyes right into the Avatroid's. -Yes, Master?-

-I was just wondering if you could tell me about my parents.- the child explained. -Error. Error. The word "parents" does not figure in my vocabulary banks.-

-Figures Quences would have made it so.- the child rolled his eyes. -I mean, those I was loomed from. Irving says Father was a Time Lord and Mother was a human.-

-The people you have mentioned do not figured in my memory banks.-

-Oh but come on!-

-What do you remember about them, Thete?- Irving asked from the sofa across the room, taking off his glasses and snapping his book shut, strands of his ink-black hair dangling in front of his blue eyes.

-Not much. I wasn't even seven when they died a year ago, Irving. I remember my mother havinfg brown-red hair and a warrior's eyes and a leather bikini and being a human, but then I remember her being a Time Lady and having red hair and a cutting-glass voice. My father, instead, is all like those folks from the House of Redlooms, military guy, a Castellan, but then I remember him as a member of the House of Lungbarrow like us, the same I let a cobblemouse loose on while he and Mr. Saldaamir lay out their plans on a great table in the Great Hall of Lungbarrow. I remembeir being womb-born and being loomed, and I'm sure one is a dream but I can't tell which, and then everything keeps bouncing back and forth in my mind until I give up.-

-Hm.- Irving mused. -Perhaps you are remembering a past life.-

-You mean, as in...reincarnation?-

-It is an established fact that before Rassilon perfected regeneration, reincarnation wasn't entirely uncommon.- Badger supplied. - _The Legends of The Time before the Old Time_ speculates that the mysterious Third Founder known as the Other hailed from a time where Gallifrey didn't even exist yet or anymore, and kept reincarnating through time and space while mantaining memories of his past lives till he reached Gallifrey and helped Rassilon and Omega overthrow the Pythias and create Time Lord society, along with the Hand of Omega, the Untempered Schism, the Great Artefacts, the Looms, etc. And then committed suicide by throwing himself into the Original Loom.-

-So cool!- Thete exclaimed in awe. -This means I have reincarnated?-

-You can't be sure, but then again. Where's the fun in knowing all the answers?- Irving shrugged, and Thete shot him an unimpressed look. -That coming from the guy who regularly meets his future regenerations.-

-Shut up.-

-It's pretty illegal, you know. Even more doing with them the same things I did that time on mine and Koschei's birthday on the bank of the Cadonflood River which you told me I was too young to do.-

Irving blushed furiously, and it was way too noticeable on his pale-skinned face. -And h-how would you know about that?-

-Please. Your room is right next to mine.- Thete rolled his eyes, then raised a good point:-Plus, wouldn't you risk getting caught by Satthaltrope, given she's the Housekeeper and can see everything that happens in the House?-

-Don't you think I know it?- Irving snapped. -I do it only while that old Pythia is sleeping, you genius. She does that for whole days, usually. How old is she, besides? A thousand and a half? Two thousands? Three?-

-Nah. She boasts having been the Housekeeper for over 950 years before my birth, since she was 302.-

-Way before Glospin was born. However, she can't beat Jobiska and Quences even less.- Irving stated, before realizing:-Hang on. Why in crukkling Selpulchasm are we talking about age matters when we started talking about our parents?-

-Oh. Sorry, Irving.- Thete realised it too, before something struck him. - Irving...you never talk about _your_ mother. Why? Did she die like Father and my Mother?-

Irving swallowed, and Thete realised he'd just touched an uneasy subject for Irving to talk about, but before he could apologise, Irving spoke, shakily and with a faltering voice.-I...I never had a mother.-

Thete narrowed his eyes, clearly not understanding, but before he could ask, Irving spoke again. -In this House, it's bad enough being loomed by two parents, resulting as children instead of fully-grown and fully-matured adults. But when you're not even loomed, just cloned and brewed as an eight-year-old child ready to be sent at the Academy, uwell...everyone tends to be particularly hard on you. Father improved in the latter years that I spent at the Academy, but it was just because he had married a woman and had you. And I couldn't even enjoy it, angry as I was because of his earlier rejection of me.-

Thete was stunned. He honestly never had been touched by the idea that life had been so harsh on Irving, but it made him understood why he was always so protective and supportive of him. -You're scared that you'll be a bad parent with me as Father was with you, isn't it?-

A rebel tear rolled off Irving's eye. -Of course I am, Thete. I'm only 90 years old, far too young to properly take care of you. I'm just a kid.-

-That's not true! Look at all the other Cousins in the House! They're still children, even if they're thousands and thousands of years old! You are the most mature of them all.-

-You say that only because I'm your favourite among them.- Irving laughed mirthlessly,wiping the tear off his face with the back of his hand, but Thete replied matter-of-factly:-I say that because it's true, brother.-

Irving smiled at him misteriously, as if knowing too much about that statement, and gently ruffled his hair. -C'mon get back to your homework. We've chatted way too much.-

Thete turned indeed back to his homework, also prodded by Badger, the Avatroid nagging him like a mother hen, and Irving looked at him. He was having the childhood he never had. An innocence he was born without.

Irving knew it was going to last only a precious little while...and swore to make it worthwhile.

TS

Hello! Hope you liked this chapter, which served to futherly detail the controversy around the Doctor's parents and birth-and the Other. I hope you also liked my exploring of Irving and Theta's relationship (by the way, if I'm not mistaken, due to Gallifreyan aging, Irving, being 90, should look like an eighteen-year-old-the Tenth Doctor having said that he was "just a kid" at that age), and Thete like a normal 7-year-old, bordering on eight)

The next chapter is going to feature Cousins of the House of Lungbarrow only-no Irving, no Theta. In the meantime, please R&R this one.


	6. Interlude One

Interlude One: The Cousins of Lungbarrow

-But...why?- Glospin pleaded with the elderly Kitriarch. -Why can't you help me? I need that post back at the Academy. I'm your Cousin, Quences, and you're my Kitriarch. You can't let that I lose my post due to a Council inspection, by Arcalians nonetheless. You can't le them throw the name of the House of Lungbarrow in the mud.-

-you've already thrown our House in the mud, Glospin! Or have you already forgotten what you did?- Glospin remained silent against the rant of the angered Quences, who then replied, in a chillingly calm voice:-Allow me to remind you then: youade experiments with Time Lord DNA,, especially on the third elix, the same that allows regeneration! What you were trying to do, break the Rassilon-imposed twelve-regenerations limit? That's heresy, and you know fully well that!-

-That wasn't it, Kitriarch...I was just trying to see if it was possible to create non-regenerating Time Lord DNA...non-regenerating, I mean in the sense that it can regenerate injuries without a DNA rewriting...- Glospin tried to justify himself, but Quences interrupted him with an imperious gesture. -Spare me the burocratic loopholes, Glospin. My verdict is final. It's the only way I can save the honour of the House of Lungbarrow in the eyes of the other Houses.-

-I bet that if it had been that Othering Wormhole you'd have done everything to help him out of this mess.- Glospin grumbled while storming out of the room in anger.

-He is right, you know.-Sattalthrope said in her croaky voice. -You spoil that little brat rotten.-

-He is not spoilt. I have great plans, for him. He'll become a Lord Cardinal at the very least. No one in the House of Lungbarrow has ever been appointed to such a high charge. And in my tenure as Kitriarch no one has ever reached a political position.- Quences sharply replied, and Sattalthrope venomously replied:-I still think you've gone senile, Quences. I can't see anything in that brat.-

-Get Irving to lend you his glasses, then.-

-And that other brat! Do you realize that their existence is an heresy to all the Looms?- Sattalthrope gripped her giant key. -Loomed as CHILDREN! From PARENTS! Were any other of us oomed as children, Glospin? Of course not! Every Gallifreyan worthy of this name is loomed as a fully grown adult. You want the House of Lungbarrow to turn into one of these Newblood Houses like Oakdown where every Cousin is loomed as a child even if he isn't loomed by parents?-

-Wormhole seems happy with a childhood.-

-That's because you spoil him rotten.-

-That's rich, coming from the same one who encourages Glospin's arrogance ovrr his elders and hatred towards his youngest Cousin.-

Sattalthrope grumbled something offensive and stormed out of the room, a Drudge tuttering behind her.

Quences sighed. Rassilon, he hated that woman.

Far back into the rooms of the House...

Drudges clattered all around, as Innocet was playing a game of Selpulchasm with old Jobiska.-You've won again, dear.- the elderly, diminutive woman chuckled at the adolescent in front of her, who smiled kindly in return. Poor old Jobiska, she was almost as old as the Kitriarch and had suffered from a regeneration which didn't end too well, leaving her capable only of knitting haphazardly in her chair and playing Selpulchasm. Innocet, Snail and Irving were the only ones in the House to spend time with her, and Innocet suspected (as the two brothers had understood) that in return old Jobiska often let them win. It was one of the very few things which gave her joy.

Innocet grumbled as Rynde passed by, blabbering of how proud he was of his post at the Capitol and how great a job it was to select and arrange only the finest delicacies to serve to the members of the High Council who came to dine at his tables, Luton instead going on and on about how he took pride in being a chimney designer and tester, often inspecting the chimneys himself, and Salpash arguing that her job as Geological Cataloguer in Arcadia was way better than the ones of the other two put together.

Innocet shook her head and concentrated on her next move, choosing Scendles.

-Selpulchasm!- she cried as the board cracked open, just as a fuming Glospin passed her, muttering under his breath. -To Selpulchasm with the old man, instead.-

Innocet scoffed. -Now what it is with you, Glospin.-

-None of your businness, little girl.- Glospin snarled at her, and Innocet put her hands on her hips.-Don't use that tone with me, Glospin. I may be only in my early eighties, but I can assure you that this _little girl_ is pretty much capable of handling you to Quences if you keep being so much of a Shobogan.-

-I've already talked with Quences and I can assure you none of us are in ant mood to repeat the experience, Dear Cousin.- Glospin disappeared to the kitchens. Yes, to the kitchens, where Blacurnine was always able to ease hisfrustration better than any other liquor.

TS

Please R&R


	7. Looking into the Untempered Schism

Chapter Five: Looking into the Untempered Schism

Today was the day, Irving sighed looking at his little brother. Today was the day he'd be changed forever.

He didn't want to remember his own Academy Initiation ceremony. Not now.

-Do I really have to go?- his brother pleaded with him as he helped him put on his ceremonial robe, and Irvng sighed as he saw himself, judst newly loomed, pleading his father not to make him go. He squeezed his eyes shut and hard, trying to make the memory go away. -I don't want to go.- he saw himself plead, and heard his brother pleading the same. -I don't want to go.-

No.

No. No, history mustn't repeat itself, he told himself.

-I didn't wanna go either,- he confessed to his little brother. -I wanted to run, in fact. I wanted to run away so badly.-

-And did you?- his brother asked, and Irving shook his head, as if trying to shake away the sadness that had resurfaced. -No. I didn't . The...They made me stand still in front of the Untempered Schism the whole time, I wanted to run so bad but they held me still.-

His little brother looked at him sadly and hugged him, whispering:-I'm sorry.-

Irving gently detatched him and looked at him in the eye, blue reflecting blue, blue seeing blue, blue into blue, sky into sky. -I want you to promise me not to repeat my error, Brother.- he told him sternly yet pleadingly. -If the Schism will make you want to run, just run. Run. Never let anything hold you back. Run. Run and never look back.-

The boy nodded, a seriousness in his reyes too steel-like to be found in a child that young, and Irving wordlessly led him to the ceremony.

No more words were shared between the two. There was nothing else that could be said, afterall.

The Master of Ritual took the boy from Irving, and made him swear the Oath on _The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey._

Then the Master of Ritual led him to the Untempered Schism, the tear in the fabric of reality that sat encased in a gold circle just on the outskirts of the Academy, and made him gaze into it, into the endless swirl of the Time Vortex.

The boy gazed, and saw again the little odd man with the question mark umbrella and pullover telling his father and mother to name him after him. He saw the child run away into space, and flee into the Old Time of Gallifrey as his life neared its end. He saw the child, now a man, with dark hair and burning grey eyes, wrappef in a black hooded cloak, helping Rassilon overthrow the Pythia and Omega create the Hand of Omega. He saw him defy Rassilon and flee into the looms with the Hand of Omega.

 _Why be a player when you can be just a pawn in the board of a bigger game? Why bother with observing and scheming, when you can act ? We have so much power: why waste it in keeping boring lists, instead pf seeing the Universe and make it better?_

The man dissolved with one last cryptic smile, turning into a mirror and then into a crotchety old man with piercing blue eyes, stealing an old Type 40 TT capsule with his granddaughter, and coming to confront two human-looking teachers.

He held himself with an air of superiority and gave of an air of ruthless intelligence, but held in his eyes the sadness of a fugitive, of an outcast, of an exile.

 _Have you ever thought what it's like? To be wanderers of Space and Time, exiles in the Fourth Dimension. But one day, we shall go back. Yes...we shall go back._

Then the old man fell to the ground, dead and alone, and morphed in a younger, shorter man, wearing baggy crumpled clothes, playing a recorder with a young man in a skirt and a jumpsuit-wearing girl beside him, coming to face a moving metal suit. - _When I say run, run!-_ he shouted, and the image dissolved to show the little man alone,facing the wrath of a Time Lord tribunal with the defiance of the most radicated of renegades.

 _There are creatures out there-creatures of death and destruction, a danger to all of creation and to the most everyday of men-and they must be fought._

Then the little man screamed in agony, being forced to regenerate, and grew tall and velvet-wearing, his features older and sharper but retaining his powerful blue eyes. The man was facing another man, with a black suit and a black beard, pointing a weapon at him-they stared at each other like the best of enemies. Then the image shifted too the man talking to a blonde-haired soldier, as if biding goodbye.

 _So be careful when you tell the story, hm? Don't make war sound like an exciting and thrilling game. Don't glamourise it. Tell them about the comrades that didn't come back, and never will. Tell them about the fear. Tell them about the death. Tell them about_ WAR.

Then the man fell to the ground out of a tall blue box,his face tearfully changing to a younger one, all teeth and curls and blue eyes, with the longest multicolored scarf ever and a brown coat, holding two wires together. His eyes were filled with true madness and wanderlust, but as he held those wires, his blue eyes held only fear of what he'd turn into if he made them touch.

 _Yes-if these wires touch , I'd make the Daleks disappear altogether from history, saving countless lives-but committing genocide in the process. Do I have the right? Tell me, if someone pointed you out a child to you and told you that child was going to turn into an evil, ruthless dictator that would kill billions of lives in the future, would you kill him? Would you kill him, Sarah Jane Smith?_

Then the man fell off a tall scientific structure, pushed by a man in black so much similar to the other bearded one the velvet-wearing man had fought with before, different and yet at the same time the same. Dying, the man smiled as a white ghost merged with him-the Moment had been prepared for, afterall-and made him regenerate into a younger, blonde man in a beige coat and panama hat with a vegetable on his left coat-lapel and a bat in his hand. He still had the blue eyes of his predecessors.

 _When did you last have, now please tell me, the pleasure of smelling a flower, watching a sunset, or eating a well-prepared meal? You don't remember, eh? I'm sorry, because for some people, small, beautiful things are what life is all about!_

Then the man fell to the ground of his TT capsule once again, his face morphing into a fuller one, encircled by blonde curls and still holding those blue eyes, this time filled with arrogance and superiority once outfit had changed too, becoming a tasteless multicolor monstrosity that could make bleed any observer's eyes out. He seemed to have become more aggressive and violent, and assessed the whole of a Time Lord Inquisition trial with the utmost outrage and defiance.

 _This, this is what we've stooped too. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans-they're all in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power-that's what it takes to be really corrupt!_

Then the man was left weak and dying, banging his head on the TARDIS console, and changed into a little, dark-haired man. His eyes were still blue, but were far darker than they had ever been before. He had a question mark pullover and umbrella, and a panama hat-it was him! The man that had told his parents to name him after him! He recognized him-those dark eyes, full of secrets and lies and schemes, tangled in a Game of Gods-playing the fool and hiding his real nature, the nature of the most ruthless of chess players-the Champion of Time himself. He drew a finger to his lips, and smirked unreadably.

 _You ain't seen nothing yet._

And, indeed, he hadn't seen anything yet. The horrible vision of the man, dying with a terrible scream, scarred him for all of his lives, and he was even more shocked whe the little man defied death itself, breaking a morgue door ofits hinges in a younger, taller body. With blue eyes growing warm and bright once again, this man donned a bottle-green frock coat and dressed (and looked) like Byron and went on countless adventures of the strangest sort, his life plagued by paradoxes and amnesia till he grew scruff and weary and middle-aged, helping the wounded and the refugees in a Great Time War, the Last of all history, until he died in a spaceship crash trying to save a girl that didn't want to be saved, but was revived by the Sisterhood of Karn and given a potion to regenerate into someone that could end the War.

 _Get out, GET OUT! The Universe no longer needs a healer, but a warrior...Lucie, Molly, Charley, C'rizz, Tamsin, Alex...friends, companions, treasure of this life...I salute you. And Cass...I'm sorry. Physician, heal thyself._

The man then drank the potion, and fell to the ground screaming in pain as golden light erupted from his face and hands, becoming young and robust, the eyes changing from a warm blue to a dark, hard green-brown. The eyes of a soldier. Of a warrior. He watched the man fight for centuries, eventually growing old and tired, full of bitterness and regret as the blood of billions soaked his hands. He ended the War. He made both sides disappear, like a magic trick. Of the great armies that had composed the two sides of the war, he left nothing.

 _What I did, I did it without choice. In the name of peace, and sanity._

Then, the old man regenerated once again due to old age, becoming a man in his forties with really short hair, a big nose and giant ears. His eyes returned blue, but were full of melancholy and regret. He was a simple man, the simplest of them all, wearing a black leather jacket, but was a force to be reckoned with, believing himself to be the last of his kind, with nothing to lose. He found redemption in a pink and yellow human, sacrificing himself to save her life.

 _All of this, Rose...you, Jack, the things we've shared, the things we've seen...It was fantastic. And you know what?I I was_ , too.

Then the man burst in flames, becoming slightly younger and matchstick-like thin. He had wild brown hair and sideburns, wearing a brown trench coat and pinstriped suit, eith white sandshoes. His eyes had become brown, sign that he hid his sadness and melancholy under a cheerful, manic facade, ruthless and emotional at the samr time, far more dramatic than all his predecessors. A true narcisist, he wasted a regeneration to retain this face and create a human clone of himself for his pink and yellow human, eventually sending Rassilon himself back in the Last Great Time War to stop him from destroying all of creation. He sacrificed himself for an old human man, dying by fatal radiation poisoning but still managing to bid goodbye to his most loved companions, but still unwilling to go.

 _Why me? Why must it always be me? I could do so much more! And yet I always have to dir for you, all of you...Why? Why? I don't want to go._

Then the man regenerated once again, seemingly for the last time-almost destroying the interior of his ship in his explosive regeneration. The result was a younger, boyish man, a mess of gangly limbs and tweed, with a bowtie to booth. His hair remained brown, almost black, flopping on the side of his face. His eyes became green-blue-and had never held so much sadness, so many centuries of regret. His losses made him go darker, distrustfu, manipulating and deceitful. Though he found redemption again in a mysterious, impossible girl-who helped him save his home world from the Last Great Time War, with the help of his previous self and the warrior one. However, the joy of being relieved of the guilt was short-lived, because, over 300 years into this incarnation, he was forced to spend its remaining 900 fighting to protect his grave. However, as he grew old and frail, the impossible girl from before helped grant him a new cycle of regenerations, and he was restored to youth just in time to bide her goodbye.

 _Time is changing...and so must I. But I swear, I'll never forget the promise I made. Never cruel nor coward. Never give up, Never give in. I'll never forget all the people I've been. I'll never forget when the Doctor was me._

And with that, he was replaced by an older, thinner man. His eyebrows could open bottle caps, and he looked like an owlish magician. But his eyes, once again blue, were truly terrifying.

 _I' ain't no general nor soldier. I'm just an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver, helping and learning._

He drew a guitar and walked up to the boy, an unextinguishable fire burning in his millennia-old eyes. The child backed away from him, scared, terrified to his core. He screamed at the man:-Who are you?-

 _I am the man who stops the monsters. I am the Doctor-and I name you DOCTOR!_

The power of the oldest and most powerful word that Old High Gallifreyan had ever produced hit the child. This was the word with the power to hold back entire armies, give life to the stars and turn off the Universe. This was rhe most powerful word of the Universe-but also the one that brought forth the most dangerous question of all, tat which shall never be answered. The First Question.

-Doctor...WHO?-

The man smirked unreadably at him, and crouched to whisper his name in his ear. It was his own. And when he heard it, the boy RAN. He ran away, never looking back...and never stopped running, ever since.

TS

AN:Perhaps one of the longest chapters so far (or actually the longest? I don't know for sure, you know), and the pnly one in this story that will ever show all Doctors together, with a cameo from the Other too. The replay of the first chapter was to make the young Doctor AKA Theta Sigma question his true origins like he did two chapters ago, and explain why he ran away from the Untempered Schism the day of his initiation like the Tenth Doctor said in the TV story The Sound of the Drums, and add mystery (or more likely (and, sadly), an ontological paradox) on how he came up with the name "Doctor" and the Promise.

Please R&R-constructive criticism is appreciated, too.

DW


	8. Eight Man Bound

Chapter Six: Eight Man Bound

Today was the day. The day that marked Theta Sigma's first year at the Academy, the day he'd have to play the Eight Man Bound.

He knew why he was there, and why he had to play the game.

During that same first year, he had become object of envy, awe, or, most often, disbelief, since he boasted that he could remember waiting to be born, spread into the Loom, and that he'd glimpsed all thirteen faces of the same man in the Untempered Schism, and that he could still glimpse them in his dreams. Well, with the exception of the one BEFORE the crotchety old man in Edwardian attire: that one he saw being born under the gaze of the one filled with question marks (or was it he himself, that baby? It'd certainly explain why he had a bellybutton), that one wrapped in a black cloak, that one that had committed suicide by throwing himself into the Looms to show that not even Rassilon could hold him down. That one, he didn't dare guess what his real identity was: almost as if fearing the answer, so he cut down the safe ones at thirteen...the number of lives each Time Lord had.

But even thirteen was too great a number for the other students to accept, so they challenged him to play the Eoght Man Bound.

He new of that game: Badger had explained it to him, and added that it was played since regenerations were bestowed upon Time Lords...and that the average result of it was fifteen students dead per semester. It was played by an "Initiate" and an "Inquiry" of twelve people( both chosen by picking names out of a box) gathered around him. The Initiate was given a drug, called the Other Trickery, which allowed a flux between regenerations, and the possibility to regenerate if the Initiate died (necessary to survive, since usually none of the players had got their Rassilon Imprimatur(1) yet). Death usually came during the identity crisis that could let the Initiate see his future faces. Said crisis was caused by the Inquiry repeating the Initiate's name until it lost its meaning.

However, the Other Trickery had its faults: if the Initiate started to regenerate while the (temporary) effects of the drug had started to wear off, it could either kill the Initiate or turn him into an abomination. Moreover, the identity crisis could also cause the Initiate to work himself in a premorphic trauma, which would kill him.

Thankfully, in Theta Sigma's case, there was a slight problem. He had always refused to give the other students his real name, so they would have had to use his nickname (which he had derived from the most common mars Badger gave him).

Theta shook the memory of his earlier years away as he sat in the middle of the Inquiry. He noticed that most of them were male (there were only three girls, who all looked his age) and were all children, and thus either Newblood(2) or loomed from parents (3). Wordlessly, they gave him the Other Trickery and gathered around him, reciting "Theta Sigma" over and over again.

Theta was amazed at how fast it started working.

First came the old geezer with an Astrakan and a cane.

Next the recorder-playing cosmic hobo.

After him came the action hero.

Immediately thereafter, the bohemian wanderer.

Next over, the charming cricketeer.

Then, the rainbow-coated asshole.

Followed by the walking question mark.

But when it came to the coscientious objector, all hell broke loose. Him, the warrior, the war veteran, sideburn sandshoes, chin boy and the angry Scottish punk rocker went so fast they almost burned his mind, leaving him conscious once again, screaming in the center of the circle.

-Seven faces clearly seen, the others went too fast.- one of the students immediately got up and shook his hand. He looked older than him, maybe by a decade or two. -Name's Rallon, from the House of Warpsmith, by the way. That was an impressive feat you managed, mate.-

-Thanks, but I certainly don't feel like doing that again.- Theta commented, before presenting himself. -I'm Theta Sigma, from the House of Lungbarrow.-

-Wormhole?- a disbelieving voice interrupted them, and the two turned to look at a haughtly-looking brunette. -Ah. Ushas. Nice seeing you here.- Theta answered, raising an eyebrow just like she'd done, as if to mock her. -It's Theta Sigma, by the way-

-Let me guess: best marks you could ever score, isn't it?- Ushas sneered, and Rallon glanced back and forth between her and Theta. -Uh...I take you know each other, then.-

-I am Ushas Ygraine Calendras, of the House of Bioengineering.- The girl replied stiffly, while Theta patted Rallon on the arm and waved her off. -Don't worry, she's like this only 'cause I beat her at hide and seek four years in a row.-

-Who's worried? Besides, she's not my type. Way too cold.- Rallon jokingly told him, and Theta remarked:-You can say that again.

Really, I'd feel more warmth from an icicle.-

Ushas glared at them both, before storming off in anger, muttering under her breath:-Othering Oldbloods.-

-Rassilon, what a ray of sunshine.- Rallon remarked, before biding goodbye to his newfound friend. -Well, Theta Sigma, it was nice knowing you, but I gotta dash. See you around!-

-Yeah. See you around.- Theta watched him go, happy he'd finally made a friend.

TS

AN: Yeah, I know that this chapter's a tad short and it's not much, but I really wanted to bring about the Eight Man Bound, and this seemed a good way to do it, adding the Rani and Rallon for good measure. Please tell me what you think of this chapter. In the meantime, enjoy the Whodictionary.

DW

(1) The Rassilon Imprimatur is given to an Academy student when said student manages to become a Time Lord. It was first mentioned in the TV story The Two Doctors. It enables Time Lords to regenerate properly, otherwise the process-which is written on the third elix of their DNA, the one Rassilon afdded-would most likely make you end up like I.M. Foreman or kill you. Koschei's first regeneration earlier in the story was helped by the fact that he gave the excess energy to Theta (Snail), much like the Tenth Doctor did to his hand in The Stolen Earth (creating the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor and the DoctorDonna). Having avoided the change of face and personality, both Koschei and the Tenth Doctor didn't suffer from the post-regeneration trauma nor they had any complications during the regeneration itself.

(2) Newblood Houses are Great Houses founded only about some thousand generations before the Doctor's "Oldblood" Houses such as Lungbarrow, Warpsmith (actually, I don't know if Warpsmith is Oldblood or Newblood, or even if Rallon belongs to it, I just chose a random House), Brightshore etc., Newblood Houses loom their Cousins as children instead of adults. They begin as babies and remain into the loom until the age of three or five, and are sent into the Academy at eight like Oldblood Gallifreyans. Staying in the loom for so long may cause them to act naive and childish (as Koschei did in Chapter Three), but it's a good substitute for brain-buffing. To Newblood Houses, regeneration isn't so traumatic, and is considered more like a change of fashion., which may be the reason why The Master is already in his thirteenth body when Roger Delgado, Peter Pratt and Geoffrey Beevers portray him in the TV show, why Magnus (the War Chief) chided the Doctor for staying too long in a singe incarnation, why Romana regenerated SIX TIMES in only ten minutes in the TV Story Destiny of the Daleks to become Romana II (7th incarnation, Trey is the 8th), yadda yadda yadda.

(3) Parents. Heh. There's a tricky matter. Why does the Doctor have a cot and mention his parents several times iver, if he was loomed in the House of Lungbarrow? Why there are 2.47 FUCKIN' BILLION CHILDREN on Gallifrey during The Day of The Doctor if Gallifreyans are sterile and (if Oldblood) loomed as adults.

Simple. Parents, on Galifrey, are just DNA donors who put their DNA in the Loom (but must be bound by a Gallifreyan Wedding Ritual like the one in the abomination that is the TV story The Wedding of River Song). The result of this is a child, loomed as a baby instead of an adult. This was however pretty rare untilthe crse making Gallifreyans sterile was lifted when Castellan Andred and Lelela (the 4th Doctor's former companion who wore a leather bikini and was human), respectively a Time Lord and a Human (JUST LIKE THE DOCTOR'S PARENTS IN THE 1996 TV MOVIE), had a child (who, guess why, is never seen again after his birth), thus making procreation between Time Lords a reality once again. HENCE the 2.47 billion children seen in the Day of the Doctor.


	9. Of Old Friends, Romance and Evil Plans

Chapter Seven: Of Old and Newfound friends, Romance and Evil Plans (PARTIALLY REWRITTEN)

Theta Sigma glanced at the clock, which showed him he'd have to wait two more hours for his detention to end. He sighed and went back to his sketches.

It hadn't been fair to give him a detention THAT long.

Sure, he did trap his teacher in a time loop for a day, but he had asked for a demonstration on how time loops worled, and Theta had just decided to do a _practical_ demonstration, since he needed also to get back at him for declaring his paper on the chromosomic origins of love "rubbish". Too bad that he didn't share his sense of humor. Too bad that it had to be Tutor Borusa to find out what he'd done to that arsehole of a professor.

He glanced back at the clock and was stunned to see who had just entered the room.

By the Three Founders, he had changed way too much in forty years.

-Koschei?- he breathed, dropping pencil and paper, while the other boy lifted his onyx eyes from the floor and bore them into his in surprise of being recognised. He tried to hypnotise the stranger who had spoken his name in an act of istinctive defense, but Theta easily shrugged off it off, and reached out with a hand to brush Koschei's pale cheek, getting it slapped away.-Who in Selpulchasm are you?-

Theta stared at him with disbelief. How had he not recognised him? -Koschei, don't you remember me?-

-Should I?- Koschei raised a distrustful eyebrow, and Theta rolled his eyes.-C'mon, Kosch, it's me, Snail! I get that forty years have passed and you probably have regenerated again (I'm betting it was while playing the Eight Man Bound), but it's still me, the guy you used to run together with in the years before the Academy.-

Theta didn't miss the near-imperceptible half tremble of Koschei's lip as he dared:-Prove it.-

Theta sighed, and unbuttoned his tunic to show Koschei his unique physical flaw-his bellybutton.

Koschei's eyes rested on the tinþy circle of flesh, mesmerized, but only for a moment, because he immediately crushed Theta in a hug, hanging onto him as if his life depended from it. -Wha-What in-Oh-Okay, I'm happy to see you too, but-geez, you're crushing my ribs, Kosch!-

-Sorry.- the boy whispered into his shoulder, his voice muffled by the fabric of Theta's robe. He loosened the hug to allow Theta to breathe, but did not break it. Theta sighed, knowing fully well this was a sign that his childhood friend was deeply upset, and hugged back. -What happened?-

Koschei squeezed his eyes shut tighter, trying to keep the tears at bay, but failing. -My-my Father's dead. The Council had sent him on a mission to find out what had really happened to Ulysses and Penelope gate..but he didn't come back.-

-Your Father? On a mission? You sure we're talking about the same man?- Theta asked, dumbfounded, but, seeing Koschei's affronted face, he apologized sheepishly, and Koschei explained:-After I entered the Academy, he regenerated for the ninth time and changed radically, taking the name Marnal.-

-Marnal(1)? But-Marnal's my hero! Well, sort of, right after Salyavin.- Theta exclaimed, and Koschei nodded, bitterly. -He was everyone's hero-and he was mine too-until his Type 40 was found nearly destroyed and his blood staining its walls.-

-I'm sorry.- Theta said, hugging him tighter. -Well, if it makes feel you better, you're not the only orphan in the room.-

Koschei did not say anything, just relished the hug, and buried his face in Theta's shoulder, crying softly inyto his embrace, soaking Theta's tunic.

They stayed there, not really caring about the time, each one in the other's arms, until Koschei had wept all his tears away and detatched from his childhood friend. -Thanks.- he smiled weakly, but full of gratitude, and Theta smiled back sincerely. -What for? Afterall, isn't this what friends are fo-

-No-listen.- Koschei hushed him, pressing a finger to his lips. -I really mean it. It's difficult for me to talk about this. Communicating emotions was never easy for me.-

-That's why you're perpetually shielded telepathically, isn't it?- Theta realised, and Koschei looked away. -There's something else.-

-Which is?-

-Agh...- Koschei rubbed his temples in pain. -Drums. War drums. I hear them nonstop, like an echo from the deepest recesses of my mind...it...it drives me crazy, sometimes. I've been hearing them since I first looked into the Untempered Schism, and...-

-And?-

-...and they're the reason I'm stuck in the same room as you, dead last.- he deadpanned sarcastically, but Theta could see real pain behind the façade. -It was a senior student who told me the news of my father's death. I...I was so angry, so disraught...and the Drumming grew stronger...and I telepathically attacked him. I...I didn't wanna hurt him...it was almost as if the drumming compelled me to do it.-

-Don't worry, Kosch: everything is alright now.- Theta tried to calm him down, then asked. -What's the name of the student you attacked?-

-Rallon, why?-

-I know one Rallon. Might help to clear things up with him.- he shrugged, and patted Koschei on the shoulder, who squirmed awkwardly. -You know I'm not very comfortable with e...-

-...with excuses, I know, yeah.-

-I meant to say "emotions".- Koschei flushed, slightly offended, and Theta turned at him with a smirk. -Oh, come on, we know fully well that it's a lie. You're just a bit awkward.-

-Me? Koschei Kavasan Kustracht of the House of Oakdown, awkward? Please, Theta. Don't be childish.- Koschei scoffed, his nose up and an uncomfortable smile on his face, while Theta's smirk became sly. -Oh, yeah?- hies face grew embarassingly close to Koschei, who reddened stepped back only to stumble into the wall. -Well, I remain firmly rooted in my convinction.-

-Prove it, t-then.- Koschei stuttered, by now redder than his scarlet robes, as Theta fiddled with the slightly younger boy's collar and glanced up at the clock. -Don't worry. We still got over a hour and a half to do so...like we did once, forty years ago.-

And in the whole hour and a half that passed, all the walls, desks and carpetry of the room were thankful not to have been created sentient like those of the Great Houses, or they would have screamed bloody murder in outrage at what the two teenagers were doing on them.

More than a hour and a half later...

Tutor Borusa ruminated about the fact that he had placed the Acemy's greatest student and the Academy's greatest troublemaker in the same detention room. He had hoped that a bit of Koschei's proper-ness could rub off on Theta Sigma in a positive way, but somehow as he approached the room...well, that idea felt all the more wrong. Sure, Koschei sometimes liked to hypnotise people, but Theta Sigma was an excellent hypnotiser himself too, and mind-shielding was one of the very few classes he got good marks. Great Rassilon, that student had a gift for telepathy and was one of the most brilliant students Borusa had ever taught...but he (deliberately, Borusa suspected) failed most, if not all, of his tests.

Well, he sighed, there really was no point on dwelling upon the matter furtherly. It was time to lrt the two out of the room.

To his surprise, the room was in perfect condition and no war of any sort had broken out between the two. He silently thanked Rassilon for not making his fears come true. Koschei and Theta Sigma, on their part, immediately ran up to him (Koschei, he noticed, with a strange limp, and a bit of red on his otherwise pale cheeks.

-I trust nothing bad has happened in the two hours you were locked together.- Borusa raised an inquisitive eyebrow, and Koschei cleared his troath. -Of course not, sir. We just talked.-

-Talked?- Borusa questioned, not buying it.

-Yes, sir. Catched up on...well, a lot of things. Me and Theta were childhood friends before we entered the Academy.- Koschei explained furtherly, then added, slightly flushed:-He also helped me...about my father's death, since he...well, he lost his parents long ago.-

-Hmmm.- Borusa narrowed his eyes.-And the limp?-

-Side effect of his second regeneration, sir.- Theta came to Koschei's rescue.

-The Eight Man Bound, hm?- Borusa fell for it hook, line and sinker, and with stern disapproval to boot.. -You should stop playing such dangeroud games. Well, I trust you learnt your lesson, youngsters. Come on, now. You better get back to your dormitories.-

-Actually, sir...- Koschei spoke. -I'd like very much to apologise to the student I attacked.-

Borusa was downright flabbergastered, even if he'd never admit it nor show it. Koschei Kavasan Kusteracht of the Newblood House of Oakdown, apologising?

The teacher turned at Theta Sigma, with a scowl that said "This is all you're doing isn't it?", while the boy simply shrugged innocently, and Borusa shook his head, a gesture that said "And I thought your brother was the overconfident and sensible one."

But out loud he simply said:-Yes, that would be proper, young one. Come with me.-

Borusa led the two to the infirmary, thinking that maybe it hadn't been such a bad idea to put the two in the same room.

Meanwhile, noticing Koschei's limp and his strained face, Theta leaned in to whisper in his ear:-You sure you can walk like this?-

-Hurts like Selpulchasm, but I can manage.- Koschei hissed back. -I doubt I'll be able to sit for a week, however, even with Gallifreyan healing.-

-Regenerate, then.- Theta joked, and Koschei bit back in sarcasm:-No thanks, I think I'll save it for our next "session".-

-I could always carry you.- Theta playfully nibbled at his earlobe, and a shiver traveled the lenght of Koschei's back, both at the nibble and at the thought of being carried bridal style, but on the outside he blushed furiously. Damn him, how could Snail make him feel such...such...such dirty things?! He was a Gallifreyan, for Rassilon's sake! And Gallifreyans had long since evolved past this animal, carnal desires and emotions (though at the unadmittable cost of becoming socially awkward), but then how could Snail (or Theta Sigma as he now wished to be called) display them without any shame?

-Why do I have to be the blushing, unexperienced virgin of the couple?- he whisper-asked Theta with a scowl.

-Because you are.- the blonde smirked, and Koschei icily whispered back:-Oh really? And what about you, then?-

-Lost my virginity to Ushas fifteen years ago.- Theta grinned even wider, as Koschei gawked in horror at the statement. -Ushas, of all people?- was all he managed to say, because Ushas was the last girl anyone would deem interested in sex.

-Even the thoughest Ice Queens have got their weak spots.- Theta shrugged, then added. -That's why she got nicknamed (in no small part thanks to me, myself and I, I gotta add) the Rani.-

Koschei almost choked himself on his own laughter ad he realized what "Rani" meant in Old Low Gallifreyan, but thankfully Borusa didn't notice.

-There we are.- Borusa said, coming to a stop, then frowning as he saw a girl about a decade or two younger than the boys he was accompanying, spying into the door. -Didn't your Kitriarch teach you about privacy, young lady?-Borusa reprimanded her sternly, and the girl immediately ran away embarassefly. -Kids these days.- Borusa sighed dejectedly, and opened the door. -How are you feeling now, Rallon?- he asked the student, who got up from the medical bed. -Bit better, sir. Thankfully the attack wasn't regeneration-causing.-

-About that,- Borusa let in the two younger students, -There's someone wishing to apologise.-

-Ah, it's you.- Rallon narrowed his eyes at Koschei, who stood his gaze. -Yes, it's me. I...I wanted to apologise for attacking you before, Rallon. I'm really sorry. I...I was angry because of my father's death and just wasn't in the right state of mind.-

Rallon eyed him wearyly, as if trying to understand if he was telling the truth, and then sighed. -Well, I suppose that I can't hold it against you if that was the reason. I'll just get sure not to bring you any more bad news, however.-

Then he noticed Theta, and blinked in surprise:-Theta Sigma? What are you doing here?-

\- Koschei and I are old friends.- Theta shrugged, and, surprisingly, Rallon beamed. -Well, that changes everything!-

-How?- Koschei frowned, not sure what to make of Rallon, who explained:-Every friend of Theta Sigma is a friend of mine, too.-

Koschei smiled. Friend. Not many had called him that, and none so readily or without second purposes.

-Well, I'm happy to see this matter resolved in such an unpredictable way.- Borusa smiled, then added. -It seemsit was a good idea to put you and Theta Sigma in the same room, Koschei.-

-Oh, definitely.- Theta smirked coyly, and patted the teacher on the back. -Definitely one of the best ideas you've ever had, sir.-

-In fact, the two of you will be staying in the same room from now on. It will help keep you in check.- Borusa declared, then marched off.

-Little does he know he's just tied the noose around his own neck.- Theta snickered, and Koschei whispered:-How long do you think it will take him to notice the sign you've stuck to his back?-

-A bit, I think. Whatever in Selpulchasm you've written on it? Looks like Old Low Gallifreyan.- Rallon questioned further, and Theta smiled nonchalantly:-Oh, just one of the finest Earth idioms.-

-Which one?-

-"Kick me".-

Meanwhile, at the House of Lungbarrow...

Glospin was utterly furious. He had sent Marnal to uncover proof that Ulysses and Penelope Gate's son was actually a hybrid, but the idiot had managed to get himself killed, throwing far more than just a spanner in the works of his plan to win back Quences's favour.

He had long been suspecting that Wormhole was not Gallifreyan, and after rumors of those two stray Time Lords having had a hybrid child he'd began suspecting that they were Wormhole's real parents...a suspect that had turned into a certainty when Wormhole's parents disappeared almost forty-two years ago and their minds disappeared from the Matrix, too. And, at the same time, he'd begun suspecting that Penelope Gate was not Gallifreyan herself.

Glospin crashed into his chair and poured himself a glass of Pazithian brandy.

He needed to think of a new plan.

TS

A/N: Koschei has returned. What will he and Theta be up to, now? Will poor old Borusa survive the plans hatched by their mischievous minds combined? And what is Glospin up to? Who are Theta Sigma's real parents?

All of this and more in future chapters-in the meantime, enjoy the Whodictionary and leave a review.

TS

WHODICTIONARY

(1) Marnal is an old Time Lord who appears in the last novel of the Eight Doctor Adventure range, The Gallifrey Chronicles. He's the previous owner of the Doctor's TARDIS, and he is heavily implied to be the Master's father. He got stranded on Earth after having discovered that the first Renegade Time Lord, Ulysses, had just had a hybrid son with the human time traveler Penelope Gate, who had first appeared in the Virgin New Adventures novel The Room With No Doors.

It's not clear if they really were the Doctor's parents. The EDAs imply this, but the NAs imply that he's the son of Andred and Leela, as in the New Adventure called Lungbarrow, and the two ranges of books are loosely connected, so I decided to play upon this rather confusing mystery in quite a few chapters, this one included.


	10. Departure and the Medusa Cascade

Chapter Seven: Departure and The Medusa Cascade

Koschei watched Theta gaze at the stars with a faraway look in his piercing blue eyes, as the two boys lied naked together on the golden sands of the Cadonflood River's bank.

It had been a couple weeks since he'd been expelled from the Academy for stealing a TARDIS with Rallon and Millennia and losing them to the Celestial Toymaker. Both of them knew it had been a foolish mistake to try to breach the boundaries of the dimensions and enter the Six-Fold Realm with that old, rusty TT capsule. Yet that was all Theta had dreamt to be: an explorer, a pioneer among his own people, like Ulysses.

Koschei admired Theta for this. Theta had had the guts to go against his Kitriarch's wishes, deliberately failing his tests to avoid being considered for a career in the High Council, where old Quences wanted him to reach, at the very least, the rank of Lord Cardinal. It cost old Quences his last regeneration when he was told Theta had been kicked out of the Academy for having caused the deaths of the heirs of both Warpsmith and Brightshore, and Koschei admitted it had almost been a comical sight. He'd never seen anyone just _literally_ drop dead.

But, comical or not, it had affected Theta. It had somehow hurt to the teenager, the knowledge of having bern the one to push his Kitriarch one step closer to death. Theta had always been the sensitive one, Koschei was rather the awkward one, and while Theta hid his uncharacteristic (for Time Lord society at least) sensitivity with arrogance and a hard edge, but was quick to make friends (another uncharacteristic thing for a Time Lord), Koschei masked his awkwardness with extreme accuracy, hiding it with a mask of sarcastic coldness and sharp brilliancy. Theta had always been (and always would be) the only one whom Koschei would ever show his true self to (even if he still blushed to do so, or to even admit it), and whenever he was away Koschei felt himself frustratingly empty.

Tonight it was one of these nights. Despite the two had just finished one of their most vigorous "lovemaking sessions" (as Theta insisted to call them, instead of the correct technical term) after days of abstinence due to their relationship being a secret (their respective Houses weren't exactly on good terms), Koschei felt that Theta wasn't with him. Theta had that look in his eyes, that look that made him looking far older than he was. That sad look, like he didn't belong on Gallifrey.

-What's wrong, Thete?- Koschei asked, head resting on Theta's bare chest, black eyes searching into Theta's blue ones. He traced a line with his finger across Theta's jaw, ending on his lips. He hated seeing Theta so distant.

-I'm just thinking about them.- Theta replied in a faraway voice, pulling Koschei's hand on his cheek. -Rallon and Millennia. They were just 105 and 75 respectively, and planned to marry once out of the Academy, you know. They didn't die, you know, unlike the High Council told the media to tell. No, they suffered from a far more terrible fate, and I was there! I was there, and what did I do when the Celestial Toymaker made Millennia part of his Toyroom? What did I do, when the Celestial Toymaker took over Rallon's body? I could have fought! I could have saved them! And what did I do? I just ran away!-

Theta was sobbing openly now, tears cascading from his clenched-shut eyes, and Koschei didn't know what else to do but hug him tight (which wasn't really easy since he was six or eight inches shorter than Theta and was sitting in his lap, and nevermind that he had never been good at comforting people), and did just that.

Theta opened his eyes, his sobs dying down thanks to Koschei's earnest embrace, and looked into Koschei's onyx lobs with pure, unbridled love. Koschei looked back at him, burning with the same passion. He straddled Theta's lap with his thighs and ran his slender fingers into Theta's long and unruly blonde locks, his mouth roaming the entirety of Theta's lips hungrily, until their burning lips crashed together and their hot mouths opened for their tongues to clash, and the two fell in the sand, Theta on top of Koschei.

Koschei bucked and arched his back as Theta pushed inside him, wrapping his legs around the older boy's waist and pulling him close, enjoying the twisting, gyrating, the stretching, the pure ectstasy as they all drank it in avidly , like their lives depended on it, the two boys screaming each other's name throughtout the night because, Gods, it felt to the both of them so RIGHT.

That morning...

The sun rose and Koschei squeezed his eyes shut as the sunlight hit them. He blinked and tried to get out of the blanket that had been spread over him, cringing in pain as he tried to sit up. Rassilon, his back end did hurt.

Turning his head slightly, he saw Theta, standing on the riverbank, fully clothed and gazing off in the distance, as if ready to disappear and run away at any moment. And when he spoke, he didn't turn to face Koschei, as if he was afraid to do so. -I didn't know how to tell you.-

-Tell me what?- Koschei blinked, frowning.

-I refused to be sentenced to five centuries of traffic control. So I agreed to be stationed as a Scrutationary Archivist at the Bureau of Possible Events for at least a good chunk of this incarnation's life.- he explained, then added, with a rebel smile. -That is, if I ever return from my exile.-

-Exile?- Koschei's jaw fell wide open. -They're sending you into exile?-

-And I couldn't be happier about it.- Theta smiled. -I could never stay here on Gallifrey. I'd end up becoming a Renegade anyway, just as Drax did a few days ago. Why stay here? The Deca's falling apart, and I've always felt an outcast among my own people.-

-You speak as if you have nothing to lose.- Koschei gritted his teeth angrily, and Theta immediately understood what he was implying, turning to face him. -I have something to lose, believe me. Or rather, someone. Anf that's you, Kosch. But I couldn't ask you to come with me. You, unlike me, have a bright future here on Gallifrey, and a good head on your shoulders. Everything would be right in the world if we could do this together, but we can't. I love you too much.-

-Othershit. I'd come with you, wherever you went, you know that.- Koschei crossed his arms, and Theta chuckled lightly. -Somehow I don't think you'd like being stranded in 19th century Earth till Rassilon knows when.-

-Earth?- Koschei gaped, wide-eyed. -Wait, that little mudhole of a planet, in the century during which its little apes were most dedicated to proving some racial groups were superior to others? It-

-See? I was right. You'd never go there.- Theta turned to gaze in the distance again, preventing Koschei from seeing his hard eyes. He had actually chosen Earth, not the High Council. He'd always wanted to see the homeworld of his mother (if the warrior-looking woman was indeed his mother), what humans actually were like, and why the Time Lords looked down so much upon "the apes".

It seemed that his wish had come true, but at the price of two young, innocent lives...and at the price of separation from Koschei. The price a Renegade had to pay.

And Koschei, meanwhile, did not relent. -How in Selpulchasm could you say that, Theta? It doesn't make sense! Leaving me here and stranding yourself on some backwater planet? You could have took that post at traffic control, if you wanted me to stay here on Gallifrey, because you know I'd gladly give everything up and go with you, if you ever left this place!-

-Once, a man told me that, if you really love someone, you should be able to let them go free.- Theta said bitterly, turning at Koschei once again, taking his hands into his, their faces inches apart. -Koschei, I've loved you since you were barely a Loomling, a little soft baby. I've loved you for eighty-seven years, and will never stop loving you. But I love you too much to ask you to share my burden, my sentence...and if you still love me, you have to understand you can't keep me on a leash.-

Those words felt to Koschei like a thousand bricks were dumped on his head, and he stammered. -B-But I-

-And he couldn't hold it in anymore, and crashed into Theta's chest, crying his eyes out. -I don't want you to go...-

Theta smiled and lifted Koschei's chin, so they could stare in each other's tearful eyes. -Just one last time, baby, OK?- Koschei, this time, didn't scoff at the nickname, but merely kissed Theta with all he had and melted into his embrace, giving in to Theta's love with abandon.

But when the two separated and went their separate ways, something into Koschei broke.

Theta did not know of this as he packed his things in the House of Lungbarrow.

-Going somewhere, Wormhole?- a snide remark came from the doorway, and Theta retorted:-Come to gloat, Glospin?-

-Merely to say goodbye.- the older Cousin put his hands up in mock defense, and Innocet peered in too. -Ignore him, Wormho- -

-It's Theta now. Theta Sigma.- the teenager cut her off, closing his trunk, and Innocet rolled her eyes. -Whatever. Just wanted to tell you we'll all miss you, little Cousin.-

-And by "all", you mean you, yourself and you, Innocet?- Theta snapped sarcastically, and Housekeeper Sattalthrope shrieked in her banshee-like voice:-You better pay your elder Cousins some respect, boy- -

-Now it will be enough, Sattalthrope. Theta's sentence is already harsh as it is.- Quences interrupted her, looking like a man in his mid-fifties this time around, and turned to Theta, but before he could even speak, the boy rolled his eyes with a groan, interrupting him. -Yes, I know, you wanna berate me for my reckless and foolish deed and yadda yadda yadda. Already got that from Borusa and Irving, you can save your breath.-

With that said, he picked up his trunk and stormed off, sending his Cousins a sarcastical "miss ya all!".

He got out of the House, where Irving was waiting for him.

-How's your Ambassador job been treating you lately, Irving?- he smiled at his older brother, who had discarded his spectacles and grown a beard, and shrugged, snarking playfully:-Better than your place of exile will, I reckon.-

Theta playfully punched Irving's arm and the two drparted for the Capitol, in silence. They'd already had a fight immediately after the incident, and despite the mutual playfulness, neither of them wanted a repeat of that, that was for sure. But they understood what each other was thinking. They were brothers, afterall.

When they reached the Capitol, and the old Type 40 (Marnal's old TARDIS, they'd told him, as if it was a cruel joke) that was waiting for Theta, they saw some of Theta's old classmates there.

-Ushas!- Theta greeted the only female among them, then noticed the newer, sleeker TARDIS next to her. -Ah. Youtoo then, eh?-

-It's all your fault, Theta, to tell the truth.- the neo-Time Lady glared at him.

-Hey, you were making forbidden experiments on that poor mouse.- Theta raised his hands in defense. -Not my fault that when I set it free it ate the President's cat-and his leg.-

-Shut up, both of you, and get in your respective TT capsules.-a young-looking Time Lord cut their argument short, and Ushas entered her Type 65 TARDIS, but Theta opted instead to look at this familiar-looking Time Lord. -Nosebung? Whatever on Gallifrey are you doing here?-

-My name is Vansell.- the Time Lord gritted his teeth at the old Academy nickname, then stiffed his nose upwards haughtily. -And you should pay me some respect. Afterall I, more than a decade younger than you, have got my Rassilon Imprimatur and symbiotic nuclei already.-

-Recruited in by the CIA, weren't you?-

-You got that ri-HEY! How did you get it?-

-Well, knowing you, it's the only place a deceitful, two-faced Shobogan like you could end up.-

-Now you- -

-Now leave it, Vansell,- another Academy student, on whose ruggedly handsome face you could see the beginnings of a beard, interrupted the outraged Vansell with a cheeky smile. -Besides, you know it's true.-

-Magnus, old devil.- Theta recognised one of the very few members of the Deca whom he'd managed to stay friends with. -Whatcha doin' here?-

-Oh, figured I'd say goodbye.-

-Well, thanks, for all it's woth. Listen...- Theta paused a moment, unsure on how to put this. -...I know it's a big favour to ask for you, but, with me and Ushas both gone...-

Magnus nodded in understanding, and put a reassuring hand on his old friend's shoulder. -Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on Koschei for you, Theta.-

-Thanks, mate.- Theta smiled, then turned to Irving. -Irving...-

-Take care of yourself, Theta.- the older man smiled, and hugged his little brother. -You too, big bro.-

The two parted, and, as the Type 50 sloely dematerialized, no one saw the lonely tear escaping Irving Braxiatel's eye.

Meanwhile, on Theta's TARDIS...

-Sorry, mate, got unfinished businness to take care of.- Theta managed to rip the space/time locator off the console, where the CIA had put it. He also disabled the link to the Stattenheim remote control they were using to guide this TARDIS across the vortex, all the while the ship lurched and spasmed wildly at the damage Theta was causing it-but Theta trying to calm it down only ended up with it materialising at random in a place where it could recharge. And then...

...Someone knocked at the door.

Theta was immediately up on his feet and out of the door-well, not completely out of the door, thankfully.

He looked around, but saw only a nebula, which he recognised being the famous Medusa Cascade. He looked around eith his time senses and felt a fracture in the fabric of the Universe-and he was right in the middle of it. Every second, every moment of time was happening at the same time there-screaming a name. But what name?

He climbed on the top of the TARDIS, whose outer plasmic shell was shifting forms every fraction of a second-the same speed as the where and the when changed in the fracture, and saw thirteen faces.

An old man with an Astrakan and a cane.

A cosmic hobo with a bowtie and a recorder.

An action hero in velvet stranded on Earth.

A bohemian wanderer with a mile-long scarf.

A charming cricketeer with the strangest friends.

An asshole who had skinned a rainbow and made a coat with it.

A little man made of question marks who sat in front of a chessboard.

A Byronian Oscar Wilde lookalike who became a coscentious objector.

An old soldier with bloodstained hands.

A war veteran with the biggest ears and a leather jacket.

A lonely god who died twice because of his vanity

An old man in a Chin Boy's body with a bowtie and big sad eyes.

A 100% rebel Time Lord wearing sunglasses and a hoodie who played his own theme song with an electric guitar.

And many more, and a Watcher, and a Dream Lord, and a Metacrisis and a Valeyard, and going further there were a Curator and an Other guy.

And they were his life, they would all be him...and it hurt, oh God, it HURT!

Their question was the same he'd asked them in the Untempered Schism. The answer had made him run, and it could make all this people run too, because they all were him, weren't they, so he answered, and screamed his name for the Universe to hear.

And, immediately, it all stopped. The crack had been sealed, because THEY now knew it was safe to return.

The fracture was no more, only the nebula remained.

Theta climbed back indide the TARDIS and got a good look at his face. It had felt like interminable seconds to him out there...and instead ten years had passed. He was 100 now, but still in his first body. But he was not a boy, not a kid as he was when he'd first arrived in the Medusa Cascade. On Earth, where he was now going, he would be considered a young man, still twenty years old, yes, but no longer a boy. It was time to leave boyhood behind, afterall.

Wordlessly, Theta Sigma of the House of Lungbarrow set course for Glasgow, Scotland, Earth in the late 1880s, and walked off in the TARDIS's depths to find more suitable clothes.

TS


	11. Glasgow

Chapter Nine: Glasgow

Glasgow, 23 November 1895

Doctor Richard Paul Dameron descended from the steps of the train, onto the panneled floor of the Glasgow train station. He watched uneasily as the various commuters roamed the place, before it once again came back to him that he was in Scotland.

Scotland. Home to the most strenuos enemies of the British Empire once, and home to their fierce descendants as of now. And he was an Englishman among them.

He turned at his friend, roommate and associate, Doctor Trevor Simon of the House of Lungbarrow. _He_ certainly didn't seem uneasy about being an Englishman in Scotland. Except that he really wasn't an Englishman. Not entirely, at least. Dick knew the story, Trevor had told him all about it two years ago, while they were roommates St Cedd's College of Cambridge. It had been a very bad week for the both of them, and one night the fumes of the alcohol and the opium had loosened them so much that Trevor had let it all out, and Dick had taken it all in. His thoughts had been transported from Trevor's strange (double, one would say) heartbeats to the little Gaelic village of Gallifrey. Apparently it was a little place in Scotland (one would say Ireland).

Trevor's father had wandered there and met a fierce, almost Amazon-like local woman, with whom he'd fallen in love, fathering Trevor. But , six years later, the young couple vanished under mysterious circumstances and, declared the two dead, Trevor's "favorite uncle" (as Trevor sarcastically remarked), Ordinal-General Quences, the _paterfamilias_ of the House of Lungbarrow (which, according to Trevor, resided in South England), had stepped in and gained custody of Trevor, and declared him his designated heir, beforetaking him to Lungbarrow.

Life at the House had been a nightmare to Trevor, who recalled his only friends being his half-brother Irving Braxiatel (who was now an Ambassador of the Crown), his older Cousin Innocet and Koschei, a younger boy whom had been a very intimate friend, if not his best one...and more, as Trevor himself had said, but he'sd been forced to leave him due to being "exiled" for accidentally causing the deaths of two common friends.

Dick still remembered what had happened next. He still blushed bright red when he did. He had always felt deeply ashamed of his sinful tastes in...partners, due to having been brought up by a strict, Puritan family, but that night, with Trevor, he'd found someone who shared his same "tastes" (or rather, Trevor had said that he "swam on both banks of the river" on one occasion, and that he "went to both shops" on another), and didn't find them so sinful. What happened next felt liberating to Dick. Even if it had hurt like Hell.

-Something the matter?- Trevor asked, coming up behind him, his breath on his ear. Dick immediately slided away, as he didn't want people to see them like this, especially in such a public place. Yet Trevor was having none of this, as usual. -Even in a train station there are quiet, dangerous places.-

Richard looked back to him and saw he was looking into a mirror. -Like that mirror?- he joked, but Trevor just looked at him darkly, and said nothing. -I remember the first time I came to Glasgow eight years ago. Studied Medicine under Lister for two years.- he noted casually, before grabbing his bags and setting off, Dick following. Odd, he thought. If Trevor had studied under Lister, why did he go at St. Cedd's? Of course, he understood the need for a Ph. D. degree, a doctorate and a license, but it seemed a bit excessive.

The two men made their way into the busy Glasgow steets and called a cab to 13a MacLeod avenue, where Trevor, using the large sum he'd aquired gambling at St Cedd's, had bought a flat. Dick had always wondered at Trevor's ability in gambling, which he said he'd learnt to appreciate in Texas, his first poker match having been against the famous Far West icon Wild Bill Hickock, the same one during which Hickock was shot dead. Dick knew he was exaggerating, since Hickock was killed in 1876 and both he and Trevor were only six at the time. Or like that time he said he'd been robbed by Jesse James himself in 1872 ". Or that other time when he claimed to have had a long discussion with the Dalai Lama in Tibet, "upon first arriving in this era and world" in 1870, aide

d through one of the darkest moments in his life (possibly the darkest so far) by his old hermit friend and father figure K'anpo Rimpo'che.

But strangeness was not uncommon with Trevor, and he'd grown to love that.

-We're here.- Trevor announced, and paid the driver as they got out of the cab and into the old-fashioned Georgian style building. Their apartment was actually pretty comfortable, with a nice tapestry on the walls and an all-around homely design. -Not bad.- Dick commented. -We'll be like Holmes and Watson in here.-

-Hope not. I've actually tried cocaine before, and it didn't end very well.- Trevor remarked darkly. -I'll guess you'll have to suffer my violin alone till we get our own Mr. Hudson, my dear Watson.-

-I don't mind your violin, actually.-

-And you'll have to be Mrs. Hudson too, not just Watson, in the meantime.- Trevor smirked, mischief in his piercing blue eyes.

-Are you seriously comparing me to a maid now?- Dick huffed, throwing a sideways glance at Trevor, who smiled playfully, but said nothing. Trevor was like this at times. One moment he could be the friendliest and most talkative man you'd ever met, and the next he'd completely shut himself off from the rest of the world. Other times, he'd be restless, with an aching yet faraway look in his icy blue eyes, as if this world was not enough for him.

It was these times that Dick was with him the most, trying to recapture the moment that they'd suddenly lost, trying to bring him back on Earth. But Trevor would always be like this, and Dick had grown to love him nonetheless.

TS

A/N: And 'tis another chapter! Sorry for the delay, I was busy with school and I wanted to get done with my 12th Doctor fanfic, Breaking Point, of which I'm writing a sequel, Heart of Darkness, that I'll publish on 1st November, and will serve as the beginning of my Twelfth Doctor on Earth arc, which will be intertwined with this same story you're reading right now.

Until then, peace & R&R!


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